The least important part of this thread is the Title

Oregano_State

I haven't been very good at updating this lately, but I wanted to wait until I had gotten back into a somewhat more regular schedule.

In the almost 9 weeks since I last posted here, my training schedule has been all over the place. From the middle of April until the middle of May my college commitments got pretty ridiculous; it pretty much consumed my life for that month and I didn't get anything else done apart from developing an intermittent click in my right wrist, presumably from spending an ungodly amount of time typing nonsense into my laptop. Needless to say, training got put on hold for much of this, although I snuck in a run or track session here and there when I could.

After all the coursework was over with, I had a few days off before exams started, which brings me up to the present, although I have one yet to sit on Thursday morning. I have been able to fit training in a bit better around the exams, and since the 20th May I'm glad to be able to say I have two weeks of solid training under my belt (got the third underway this evening), with 2 track, 1 hills/steps, and 1 weights session on each week. I still don't think I'm quite back in the shape I was in at the start of April, although I'm not too far off it either. That crazy few weeks really had me run-down as I wasn't eating or sleeping properly for most of it.

Anyway, once I get this last exam out of the way, the summer term should be a lot more manageable than the last one has been. The past couple of weeks' training has been really enjoyable, and I've seen decent progress. I'm hoping to keep training hard for the rest of June, start racing in July, and hopefully by the end of July and throughout August I'll have raced myself into decent shape.

Tuesday 3rd June - Track: 4x150m off 6mins
I was debating not going to tonight's session and just doing a bit of a light run instead,as my right hamstring (not the one I injured last year) had tightened up after a number of intense training sessions last week. I attacked it with a tennis ball on Sunday night but it hadn't responded too well yesterday and I was a bit hesitant to push it. It felt a bit better today, and I was itching to go do something outside this evening as I'd been cooped up studying for too long, so push it I did.

I left the spikes at home and did the session in racing flats after a long warm-up. The weather was pretty good for sprinting: mild, dry, and overcast, and the hammy held up fine. I was surprised to hear that I was coming in at 18/19s for all of them as I wasn't pushing the pace.

Oregano_State

Still Truckin'
I've been terrible at updating this lately but I've been pretty good when it comes to training. In my last post I said that my plan was to train hard for the rest of June, start looking at races in July and hopefully come into some decent shape for the tail end of the season in August. That plan is still in action. I've been gradually increasing the training load over the past few weeks and have definitely seen the benefits.

Planning on racing a 400m on the 8th July at an open meet in Trafford, Manchester It's supposed to be a really good track and while I'm not sure what sort of shape I'm in, I'm really looking forward to it.

This week, training has looked like this:
Monday: Gym: Deadlifts 130kg 1x3, 100kg 1x10; Hip Thrust 100kg 5x10; Chins & Dips w/ 15kg plate 3x5, 3x10; lots of core
Tuesday: Track: 100m x 3, 120m x 2, 150m x 2, 180m x 1
I didn't time any of these, but felt good enough. My training partner at the moment is a javelin thrower who's concentrating on sprinting this season due to a wrist injury. He's very quick though, looking to hit 11.1s in the 100m this season so I've my work cut out to try and keep up with him, both on the track and in the gym.
Wednesday: Gym: Back Squat: 105kg 3x3, Kettle-bell swings 20kg 3x10, Shoulder press up to 50kg 1x3, Plyos: box jumps, standing long jump 5x5 each, step ups 5x10 each leg.
Thursday 350m, 250m, 150m off 7 mins. This was a good intense run-out. The 350m was in about 49s, but felt good. I had my training partner doing the last 200m to push me along, which was helpful. The coach is trying to get me to change a couple of things about my technique so I tried to work on them in the 250m and 150m. Felt strange.
Friday Gym: Single leg press (45 degree) 120kg supersetted with bench press at 82.5kg, 6x2 on both. Weighted hip-flexor raises, 8.25kg 6x10, supersetted with lateral raises 8kg DBs, 6x8. Circuit: Aleknas w/5kg x10 or plank 1min, alternating every set, DB row w/ 26kg x5 each arm, single-leg glute bridges x10 each leg. 6 sets.
Saturday Recovery session: long warm-up. 3x 80m hill strides at 60-70%, 3x80m strides on the flat again, no more than 70%. I was working on the technique changes the coach suggested. It was a lot easier implementing them at this sort of effort rather than going almost full pelt in spikes on the track.

I feel like I'm coming into some decent shape now. Reckon I've dropped a kg or two over the past couple of months as well based purely on what I've seen in the mirror. Looking forward to getting back to racing.

Oregano_State

Sunday 29th June - Gym
Down to the gym again this morning. I've been doing a fair amount of work in the gym recently and have gotten into a nice routine. They begin with a hilly 1.5 mile jog between my place and the gym so I'm nicely warmed up by the time I get there. I then spend about 10mins foam rolling and stretching. I've really focused in lately on stretching my hips as they really tighten up if I ignore them for even a day or two. I find lunges and in particular the couch stretch to work really well for me, although the couch stretch can take a while to get used to as it's pretty deep. I would really recommend trying these to anyone reading; you don't know what you're missing out on.

Anyway the session today went as follows:

DB Snatch 18kg x 5, 22kg 3x5 each hand.
Need to work on 'snapping' under the bar instead of pressing it to finish.
Barbell Hip-Thrust
Will (training partner) and I decided to see what our maxes on this were. We've been doing sets of 10 at 100kg recently and not getting much in the way of DOMS afterwards, so as well as being a bit of fun, establishing a max would help with deciding what weights to do in training going forward.
60kg x10
100kg x3
140kg x2 PB
160kg x2 PB
180kg x1 PB
200kg x1 PB
220kg x1 PB
230kg x1 PB

Box Jumps
Worked up to 3 x "just over my bellybutton" which I've just measured at roughly 46 inches, or 117cm. This is definitely a PB also, up from 42 inches.
Dips
BW 1x28 for another PB
Core 3 rounds of 1 minute each on: aleknas w/ 5kg plate, kneeling ab roll-outs, and russian twists with 8kg med ball. This was really tough. Took 45s between exercises which was pushed out to 1min towards the end as the pain set in.


Pretty happy with this session. The PBs indicate I'm in very good shape strength-wise, so hopefully this will translate well to the track. I know I'm missing a large chunk of base fitness as my winter training only began in January, but I'm going to plough ahead regardless. Looking forward to racing on the 8th.

Oregano_State

Monday 30th June - Track: 2x300m, 2x120m
I'm in the process of moving house at the moment so rescheduled the Tuesday track session to yesterday evening instead. The conditions were perfect, in or around 19 degrees with little wind. My training partner was doing 120s, but I wanted to do something a little more 400-focused. I decided on doing 2x300m hard, with 4mins between them. This would be incomplete recovery, so the first 300m would be close to the opening 300 of a race, while the second, from 200m on anyway, would be more similar to the back-end of a 400m race.

Went off pretty hard, and pushed it right to the end on the first rep. Was delighted to see 39.6 on the watch afterwards, which is my first sub-40 since last year.

Was still feeling pretty ropey after the 4mins, but stuck to the break I'd set myself. Tried to relax more for this one, but pushed hard at the end. Time was 42.5, which was a bit off where I'd like but not awful.

I took ten mins rest before the 120s, which was badly needed as I got a fair dose of lactic from the 300s. Didn't do the 120s all-out, was concentrating on working on the technique changes the coach has been asking me to try. Didn't bother with a watch either, no need. I felt good on these. Very happy with the session overall.

Oregano_State

Tuesday - Off.
Moving house is a general pain in the hole and I reckon a got a decent training benefit from lugging stuff between the two houses and up and down two flights of stairs.

Wednesday 2nd July - Gym
Warm up: Ran to gym, did loads of rolling and stretching.
A1) Single Leg Press: 120kg 6x3 each side
A2) Bench Press: 82.5kg 6x3

B1) Pull Ups BW 5x10
B2) Single DB Tricep Extensions 10kg 5x8

C) Core: 8mins non-stop of various core exercises. Another rough one.

Thursday 3rd June - Track: 20m,30m,40m accels; 3x100m, 1x150m, 1x200m
Was feeling a bit of built-up fatigue when I got to the track for this one, which persisted during the warm-up. Going through the session in my head towards the end of the warm-up seemed to focus my mind a bit and I was fine after that. Funny how that happens.
Anyway, I did most of this session with my current training partner, a javelin and 100/200 guy. I was keeping up with him for the accelerations, which we did from 3-point starts, although he was getting away from me on the 100s as his top speed is a lot better than mine.
I was coming in at 12.4-12.6 for the 100s which isn't bad at all for training, and I felt like I was moving well, concentrating again on the technique points I'd been asked to work on by the coach.
I didn't get a time for the 150, but it felt good. The 200m came in at 25.9 which is pretty promising considering it was at the end of a session.

Training's been going really well the past few weeks, I'm looking forward to the racing next Tuesday. Considering a 100m and 400m double. Heading to the gym now and then taking the weekend pretty easy. There is talk of a bike trip out to the countryside to take in the Tour de France on Sunday afternoon, which sounds to me like a great way of keeping the legs ticking over.

Oregano_State

Friday 4th July - Gym
Managed to sneak in a quick gym sesh after college and before the Germany France game. Have to keep the priorities straight, like.
Ran to gym, foam-rolled and stretched. Got straight into it.
A) Back Squat:
40kg x5
60kg x5
80kg x3
100kg x3
105kg 3x4 w/ 3x BW squat-jumps after each set
80kg x10

B1) EZ Bar Curls 22.5kg 3x15
B2) Upright Rows 22.5kg 3x10
B3) Overhead Press 22.5kg 3x10

Finito. Ran home as a warm-down.

Oregano_State

Tuesday 8th July - Races: Trafford AC Open meeting, Manchester: 100m and 400m
So I had my return to racing on Tuesday night, getting the train over to Manchester for one of the Trafford AC open meetings. As far as I know, these are the only open race series near me, as there are a lot of league meetings. Typically, Tuesday was the wettest day we've had over here in the past month, which put a literal dampener on things, but thankfully it wasn't windy.

The Trafford open meetings are weekly events, divided into distance & throws, or sprints & jumps, alternating each week. This week was sprints and jumps. The order of events was long hurdles, 100m, 400m, short hurdles, 200m. I decided to go for the 100 and 400.

The track is about 3 miles from Manchester city centre, in Stratford. We passed Old Trafford in the taxi from the train station to the track, my first time seeing it, which at 24 is a bit poor for a united fan. The track itself was different to what I had expected. I was told it was a quick track, and I knew Trafford Ac were a big club, so for some reason I expected a mondo surface, something along the lines of Santry. However, it turned out to be a 6-lane track with a tartan surface, and old-looking stand on the home straight, and a large prefab-like building serving as the sign-in/pseudo-warm-up area.


100m: 12.48s
The rain was pissing it down between the time we arrived and just before the start of the 100m races, so I was pretty damp by the start. I put myself down for the sub-12 heat, and drew lane 4. I realised as I was warming up that I hadn't done any block work since last year, and sure enough when I tried a few practice-starts I felt a bit awkward coming out of them.

Anyway, I don't think I ran a very good race at all. I got a bad start, and tensed up trying to make up for it, which is a big no-no in sprinting. The time of 12.48s is a lot worse than what I wanted, over a tenth down on what I felt was an equally bad performance in Tallaght last year. Maybe the mitigating factors of the rain and no block work had something to do with it, or maybe I just didn't run very well.

400m: 53.77s
I didn't have much time to dwell on my poor 100m, as I was drawn in the second 400m heat, called for my marks about 15min after the end of my 100m. Ideally one would like a little more time than that, half an hour say, even if it was only 100m.

On the entry form, I put my projected time down as 54s. I ran two 400m races last year, 54.58s indoors in Athlone, and 54.31 in CIT in April. Going by training times, I felt like I was in similar shape, at least to go sub-55s. I had said to myself that I would be happy with sub 54.5, and delighted with sub-54, although I didn't think I'd get it.

I was drawn in lane 5 out of 6, with all lanes filled, so a decent-ish draw with someone outside me to aim at. I didn't have a clue about the other runners. I'd noticed from the 100s that the starter had a habit of leaving everyone on set for a fair amount of time, and I remember it seeming like an age being in the set position at the start, as I always hold my breath in on set. Nevertheless, we got away cleanly first time and I tried to stick to my plan of taking it out hard for the first 80m or so. I tried to relax then on the back straight and was happy to note that I couldn't hear anyone coming up on the inside of me, and I was catching the guy in lane 6. I continued to gain on the guy outside me and caught him at about 180m into the race. I was into the second bend then, and slightly picking up the effort levels. At about 150m to go, I noticed a guy drawing level with me on the inside and from here I decided to go for it, which in hindsight was probably a bit too early. We were still level coming into the straight but with 50m to go he started to pull away from me a little bit. I still finished strongly compared to how I died in both my 400m races last year, and wasn't half as tired after finishing. I was delighted to see 53.77 on the sheet when I went to check my time, and almost as pleased with the second place finish in the race.

This sets me up well now for getting into 52s territory this season. More speed-work is needed, going by my 100m time.

Oregano_State

Wednesday 9th July: Gym
The legs were feeling pretty ok after racing, so I went ahead with the gym session. Ran the hilly mile-and-a-bit there and launched into 15/20mins of stretching and rolling. Hips were pretty tight as usual, although I was surprised my hamstrings weren't sore or particularly tight after the races. Got down to business then.

A1) Bench Press: 82.5kg 6x4
A2) Single Leg Press 120kg 6x4

B1) Lateral raises: 8kg DBS 5x8
B2) Hip-flexor raises 8.5kg 5x10 each leg

C) Core: 3 rounds of: [Aleknas w/5kg plate x10, Russian Twists w/ 10kg med-ball, SL Glute-Bridges x10 each leg]
No break between sets on the core stuff. It was really tough, never done as much core work as I have been in the past couple months.

Done. Ran home.

Chivito550

Congrats man. Great running. I'd kill for that time right now.

Oregano_State

Chivito550 wrote: »

Congrats man. Great running. I'd kill for that time right now.

Thanks.

Chin up man, it will come. I read about your disappointing race at the gradeds. There has to be a reason for the calf-spasms, would you say your calves are particularly tight? Is it only the one leg you get them in or both? Do you ever get spasms in any other muscles?

Chivito550

Oregano_State wrote: »

Thanks.

Chin up man, it will come. I read about your disappointing race at the gradeds. There has to be a reason for the calf-spasms, would you say your calves are particularly tight? Is it only the one leg you get them in or both? Do you ever get spasms in any other muscles?

First spasm in 8 weeks. Up to before I went to Kerry a few weeks back I'd been taking 2 teaspoons of Osteocare liquid every morning, which contains 300mg of calcium and 150mg of magnesium. I sort of forgot to go back on it after the trip. This could have been a factor. I only ever get spasms in calves, and usually the right one.

Oregano_State

Chivito550 wrote: »

First spasm in 8 weeks. Up to before I went to Kerry a few weeks back I'd been taking 2 teaspoons of Osteocare liquid every morning, which contains 300mg of calcium and 150mg of magnesium. I sort of forgot to go back on it after the trip. This could have been a factor. I only ever get spasms in calves, and usually the right one.

Do eat much dairy or drink milk? I know it doesn't agree with some people but I'm a big advocate of milk.

I take a B vitamin complex that has Vit C, zinc, magnesium and calcium in it too. I also take a vitamin D tab separately. Both are really cheap, from a supermarket.

The salts (magnesium, calcium, potassium, and sodium) are the ones that most agree are important when it comes to cramp prevention. It could be that you are over-hydrated and your salt balance is off when you get the cramps. I've only ever gotten cramps from dehydration, usually at night, or after a really hard session. You're obviously on the right track there with the salts in the osteocare stuff.

Chivito550

Oregano_State wrote: »

Do eat much dairy or drink milk? I know it doesn't agree with some people but I'm a big advocate of milk.

I take a B vitamin complex that has Vit C, zinc, magnesium and calcium in it too. I also take a vitamin D tab separately. Both are really cheap, from a supermarket.

The salts (magnesium, calcium, potassium, and sodium) are the ones that most agree are important when it comes to cramp prevention. It could be that you are over-hydrated and your salt balance is off when you get the cramps. I've only ever gotten cramps from dehydration, usually at night, or after a really hard session. You're obviously on the right track there with the salts in the osteocare stuff.

I eat a fair bit of cheese and butter. I used to be lactose intolerant as a child and teenager so have always used Soya milk in my cereal, so much so that I won't change now. I absolutely detest the taste of all milk though, and the thought of drinking a glass of it makes me want to throw up. I'll eat anything made from milk, just not milk on its own. I've been eating a good lot of feta cheese of late, though that's not made from cow's milk.

Very interesting that you mention overhydration. I honestly never knew that this could be a factor, so did a google search on it, and apparently this can cause spasms as much as dehydration. Perhaps I drank too much water on Wednesday, and couple that with the fact I wasn't taking Osteocare of late.

Also Osteocare contains about 74% of the RDI of Vit D. I never took Osteocare in Australia, but ecoli pointed out to me that I would have got much more Vit D through sunshine over there, compared to what I am getting here.

Oregano_State

Thursday 10th July - Track: 300m, 200m, 3x100m, 3x80m
Another lovely evening for training, which I'm really enjoying at the moment. We did an extended warm-up because we'd raced on Tuesday, which included the 300m and 200m. These were both pretty much extended stride-outs, and we did them in trainers. The 300 was in 48s, and I'm not sure about the 200m, 28s maybe. Felt good to go at that point, and threw on the spikes.
My training partner pointed out one of the girls that was training with a different club, saying she was Steve Cram's daughter. Her boyfriend was there training too, he looked like a decent runner in fairness, but talk about feeling inadequate when you go to meet the parents!

I felt really good for the 100s and 80s, I was level with my training partner in nearly all of them expect the last 80, and one other where he broke at the start. My training partner ran 11.6 and 23.4 on Tuesday, so that's pretty encouraging. I'd imagine he may not have been going 100% but this was the closest I've been to him in training so I'll take all the positives I can.
When I think about the terrible shape I was in even 8 weeks ago, I've been really encouraged by how things are going with my running at the moment.

Friday 11th - Gym
A) DB Snatch: Worked up to 26kg 3x2 each hand
B1) Deadlift: 50kg 1x10, 70kg 1x5, 90kg 1x5, 110kg 1x5, 120kg, 2x3, 90kg 1x10
B2) Box Jumps: 3 box jumps at about 43" in between most of the DL sets.
C) Depth Jumps: 3 sets of 3 jumping onto the same height as the box jumps
D1) DB Bench: 24kg 3x5
D2) DB Row: 32kg 3x5 each side
E) Dips: BW 2x15
F) Core: 3 x [Kneeling Roll-Outs 1min, Side Plank 30s each side, Negative Dragonflies 1min]

Never done depth jumps before, felt ok, I didn't want to overdo it. The dragonfly core exercise is a real tough one. Proper gymnastics type stuff. I can only do about 2 or 3 full negatives when I'm fresh, still have a way to go before doing a proper one. The session above looks a lot longer on paper than it felt. I'd say the one on Wednesday was more difficult and took just as long.

Saturday 12th July - Recovery Strides in the Park
I've really come to enjoy these Saturday morning sessions in the park near my house. Warm up, 3 hill strides on the grass, then three strides on the flat, in between having a lengthy chin-wag with the training partner. I take it really easy for the first few, and work up to about 85% towards the end of the last one. The aim is to loosen out the legs and work on technique.
Stretching and rolling pencilled in for this evening.

Oregano_State

Sunday - Off, apart from some stretching and foam rolling.

Monday 14th July - Gym
I felt great after the two light days over the weekend, which I think are a good idea for the moment as all of my sessions are pretty intense at the moment. Also my hamstrings were a bit creaky on Friday and Saturday which is generally the main sign for me that I need to think about backing off for a day or two. Anyway, I was raring to go yesterday evening and continued with the toughest session yet in the bench & leg-press program I'm in the middle of at the moment.

Warm up was the hilly mile-and-a-bit run to the gym. The first 600 metres or so is uphill with an increasing gradient, which I try to take a decent clip. When I first started running this I'd be completely knackered by the time I got to the crest of the hill, but each time I've done it since I've found it a bit easier, to the point that yesterday I was wishing there was another 100 metres if climbing to give me more of a challenge. Always satisfying to see little indicators of improvement.

Rolled and stretched when I got to the gym, 15mins roughly.

A1) Bench: 50kg 1x5, 70kg 1x3, 80kg 1x2, 82.5kg 6x5 (missed final rep on sets 4 and 6) :mad:
A2) Single Leg Press: 50kg 1x10, 75kg 1x5, 100kg 1x3, 120kg 6x5 (each leg for everything)

B1) Pull Ups: BW+10kg 5x5
B2) DB Tricep Extensions: 12kg DB 5x8 each arm

C) Core: To change things up a bit we did some Mike Tyson style med-ball battering of our abs. Basically you get someone to whack a med-ball off your core from various angles, increasing intensity until you want to stop. We also did it lying down where your partner drops it from increasing height. We used a 5kg med ball, and it was a completely new experience for me and really good fun tbh.

Then we did the plank with a training partner sitting on our backs. 2 rounds of 1 minute, although I collapsed at the 55s mark on the first round. Having an extra 79kg on your back is every bit as tough as one would imagine!

Track this evening.

Oregano_State

Tuesday 15th July - Track: 120m, 130m, 140m, 150m, 160m, 170m, 180m, 200m
This was a real tough one. My glutes and adductors were in ribbons after the intense weights on Monday, so I had to spend what felt like an age rolling them out as part of the warm up. Ouchies. Funnily enough, my legs felt fine once I'd done a few strides and I felt good to go on what was another fantastic evening for running; about 20 degrees with the sun beginning to dip and little wind to speak of.

The aim was to do the reps as quickly as possible, with a slow jog around from the finish line to the start of the next one a recovery. My personal goal was to stay as close as I could to my training partner. I went close to 100% effort for the first two which was probably a mistake, though I crossed the line at the same time as Will, the training partner. From the 140m rep onwards he was pulling away from me on the straight and there wasn't anything I could do about it. We were given a 7min break after the 150m, as we would have completely fallen apart if we didn't have this, defeating the point of the session. The coach was calling out times for each rep, although the only one I can remember is that I went 26-low for the 200m, which I was happy enough with considering how wrecked I was at that point. I think a good indicator of how difficult a session is, is the amount of chatter that goes on between reps. There was barely a word said between the three of us on the track after the third rep on Tuesday until well after we'd finished. I know I lay straight down on the track in a heap after crossing the line for the 200m and looked up to see the other two in similar states. I hadn't felt that wrecked after a track session in a while. Strangely, I didn't feel lactic at all though.

Wednesday 16th July - Gym
I still felt really stiff in the glutes and general arse area yesterday. Warm-up was the run to the gym, then the usual 10/15mins of rolling and static + dynamic stretching.

A1) Back Squat: 20kg 1x10, 50kg 1x5, 80kg 2x2, 100kg 6x2
A2) DB Incline Bench: 18kg 1x5, 26kg 4x3, 1x5

B1) E/Z Bar Curls: 35kg 3x10
B2) Upright Row: 35kg 3x10
B3) Overhead Press: 35kg 3x10

C) Conditioning: 30 x 16kg KB swings, 10 Standing broad jumps; 30 KB swings, 10 Box jumps; 30 KB swings, 50 BW dynamic step-ups each leg.
We broke the swings into sets of 15, the SBJ and box-jumps into sets of 5, and the step-ups into sets of ten each leg. Was really working hard by the end of these.
Track this evening.

Oregano_State

Thursday 17th July - Track: 2x100m, 2x80m, 2x60m, 1x50m
Had a great speed session on Thursday evening. Glutes and adductors were still a bit sore so I gave them extra attention during the warm up and they were grand after that. The coach told me I wasn't getting my knees up enough on the first 100m, so for the rest of the session I really worked on it. No times, and I felt like my start wasn't great but once I got into my running I was feeling good.

Friday 18th July - Gym
Warm-up: Run to gym, lots of foam rolling and stretching.
A) Plyos: hurdle hops over 6 small hurdles: double leg, then single leg. Twice each.
DB Snatch: worked up to 26kg 3x3 each side
C) Deadlift: 20kg 1x10, 60kg 1x8, 80kg 1x5, 100kg 1x3, 110kg 1x3, 120kg 3x5, 100kg 1x10.
D1) Split Squat: 2x20kg DBs 3x8 each leg
D2) Dips: BW+15kg 3x10
E) Core: 3 x[Toe-touches, 30 x russian twists w/ 10kg med-ball, 1min plank]

Was only planning on doing 3x3 on deadlifts but said fook it and went for 5 when it came to it. This has been a sore week for my general bum area :pac:. Interpret that as you will, I'm talking about DOMS and nothing more.

Oregano_State

Saturday - Off

Sunday 20th July - Hills
Headed to the park at about midday yesterday on what was another very warm day. My legs felt absolutely brilliant after the day's rest. I think I've gotten used to increased training load now, so I'm less sore normally, but the difference a day off makes is still very noticeable and welcome.
I jogged the 400m or so up to the park, spent about 20 minutes warming up, mainly drills, strides, and dynamic stuff. I felt really good by the end of this. I decided on 6x80m hills on grass with walk-back recovery. Then 5mins rest, and 3 x progressive strides on the tarmac path. I wore racing flats for this one.
The session went really well. I felt I was hitting all the technique points I've been working on recently, and just felt generally fast. I tired a bit on the lat couple of reps but that's to be expected with short recovery. For the strides, the path was a bit wet from the previous day's rain, as there's a lot of tree cover which stopped the sun getting at it. Because of this I had to build up the effort gradually to stop my feet slipping, but was concentrating on technique over speed anyway.

Oregano_State

Monday 21st July - Gym
Found some time to do about 20mins of foam rolling and stretching at home. Ran to gym, did more dynamic stretching.
A1) Bench: 82.5kg 4x6, 1x3
A2) Single Leg Press: 120kg 5x6 each leg

B1) Wide Grip Pull-ups: BW 2x10 PB
B2) Lateral Raises 5kg plates 2x10

C) Core: 1min plank w/ 80kg training partner on my back
D) Run Home

That was it. I've seen very noticeable gains in leg and bench strength since starting this program, I was struggling to lift those weights for sets of 2, three weeks back.
My ankle was sore last night and this morning, I may have gone over on it when I slipped while running up the stairs yesterday, although only noticed the pain hours later. Seems ok now after walking around on it, so track session is going ahead as normal this evening.

Oregano_State

Tuesday 22nd July - Track: 400m, 300m, 200m off 4min, 3min
I'd been eyeing up this session since I saw it on Chivito's log a couple of weeks ago, and Tuesday presented me with an opportunity to have a crack at is as our coach wasn't there and he hadn't left specific instructions for a session. This was back at the track I trained in from Christmas until the summer, as the track I've been going to since the start of June is closed this week because of graduations.

I knew this session would be tough because of the very short breaks, and the fact that there are only three reps means that it should be done at pretty high effort. I did the session in spikes and set myself targets of 58.xx, 43.xx, and 28.xx. There was a strong negative wind blowing on the home straight which wasn't ideal, but the sun was shining and it was nice and warm so I'm not going to complain too much.

Times were 59.3, 43.3, 28.5. Breaks were 4:10, and 3:10

First off, I was absolutely knackered after this. Collapsed on the track and lay there like I'd taken a slap off a car for a good 3 or 4 minutes before peeling off the spikes, hoisting myself to a standing position and walking back to where I'd left my gear.

I wasn't too pleased with the time for the 400, as it felt like I was working harder than that would suggest, but the wind on the home straight was really really strong so that could have been enough to push me outside my target. The 300 was ok, but again the home straight was like a wind tunnel. I felt like I had no power in my legs at the start of the 200m, but once I got into my stride I felt like I was moving a little better.

This session was nearly a full 48hrs ago as I write this and my calves are still uber tight and DOMS-ey from it, despite rolling and stretching them at every opportunity since. I'm going to have another crack at it soon with an extra minutes rest for each rep.

Wednesday 23rd July - Gym
This was my first morning gym session in an age, and it told. Usual warm-up of running to the gym and stretching a rolling when I got there.
A) Back Squat: 20kg 1x10, 50kg 1x8, 70kg 1x5, 80kg 1x5, 90kg 1x3, 110kg 1x3 PB, 1x0, 80kg 1x5

B1) Single Leg Press: 50kg 1x8, 75kg 3x8 each leg
B2) E/Z Bar Curl: 35kg 3x12
B3) Narrow-Grip Upright Row: 35kg 3x10
B4) OHP: 35kg 3x10

Did a few box jumps in between sets, nothing organised though. Ran home.

For the 110kg squats, I'd only ever done 2 reps at this weight before, but managed 3 relatively ok for the first set, although I wasn't sure about depth. I decided i was going to go for 3x3 at 110kg. Stupidly, I put a box in under me to make sure I was hitting parallel, but this completely threw me off on the second set and I collapsed forwards when my bum hit the box, having to throw the bar over the back of my head as I bent over. Felt pretty angry at myself afterwards although I was glad nobody was there to see it. I couple of hours after the session I noticed a pain in my neck if I turned my head to the left, so I definitely strained a muscle in there. It was pretty sore up until last night but seems to be a bit better today and I don't think it's going to affect my running so the track session is still on for this evening. Learned my lesson with heavy box squats now!

Oregano_State

Thursday 25th July - Track: 2x[20,30,40,50m] from blocks, 150m, 200m
The neck wasn't too bad at all yesterday and is almost back to 100% today, so thankfully it didn't affect my running. The weather recently has been amazing, so the track session was again done in pretty much ideal conditions for sprinting.

I hadn't worked on block-starts in a long time, so this session was well overdue. I wasn't at all happy with how I was getting out of the blocks at the races in Manchester a few weeks ago, so I knew I needed to work on it. The first few felt pretty terrible, but I concentrated on getting my hips high in the set position an driving my hands up at the start to get out properly. I think I improved a lot as the session went on, I was getting closer and closer to my training partner who was destroying me on the first few, I even beat him to 10m a couple of times.

The 150m and 200m at the end were at close to 100%, with a slow walk-back between them, 4mins maybe. They felt really good, although I didn't get times. Really happy with the session overall.

Oregano_State

Been busy from all angles the past week. Training had to take a back seat for a few days but I think it was well worth it, even from a purely running perspective as I'd been going hard at it for a good few weeks now and various parts of me were starting to creak and complain. Here's a run down of what training I did anyway:

Friday 25th July - Gym
Ran to gym, usual foam rolling + stretching warm-up
A) Back Squat: worked up to 110kg 3x3 PB
B1) Single Leg Rear Kick-back: worked up to 120kg 3x8 each leg
B2) Horizontal Row Machine: 20kg plate on each side, 3x10
C) Conditioning Single and double KB swings, standing broad jumps, BW jump squats.
D) Stretching using vibrating plate machine thing - this was great craic altogether, and felt amazing. In the past I used to laugh at the people I saw using these yokes, but never again!
I'm feeling really strong at the moment. Feelsgoodman.

Saturday 26th July - Hills: 3x80m, 3x120m
This was a really quick one, the whole thing only took about 25 minutes from the time I left the house to when I was back. Had a quick 200m jog up the road to the park, weather was fantastic so only did about 5mins of a warm-up when I got there and was good to go. Did all reps on the grass, with walk-back recovery. Felt strong, only the last one was any way difficult. If I wasn't so caught for time I would probably have done two more 120m hills, taken a little break, then done some technical strides on the flat. Was a good enough little sesh as it was though.

Sunday - off
Monday - off
Tuesday - off
Wednesday - off

I did some foam rolling and stretching and stuff on most of these days, although nothing organised. I was travelling on Monday and Tuesday and had college stuff on Wednesday after which I'd planned a gym session but felt pretty run down so I left it off.

Thursday 31st July - Track: 2x3x120m off 4min, 10min
Felt like an age since I'd last trained, and even though it had been a few days, it was probably more due to the fact that I'd been all over the place in between doing other things. It was good to be back at the track on another lovely calm evening for sprinting. My main training partner from Jan-May was back in Leeds for the evening which gave me an opportunity to see if I'd improved much over the past 5 weeks or so since I'd last trained with him. Having said that, he hadn't been doing much training since he's finished uni, so he most likely wasn't 100%.
I did the session in trainers, as I didn't want to push thing too hard after a few days off. I was aiming to go hard but not all-out, getting into a good rhythm more than anything else.

The times went as follows: 27.3, 27.0, 26.8, 27.2, 27.7, 27.5

I'm pretty happy with that. I think the last one was a little quicker than I've put there, as I messed up the timing a bit. Really happy with the consistency and I think I'm getting into the groove with the technique changes the coach has been getting me to implement. Also, I was beating my training partner who used always kill me especially on the later reps, and although he isn't in top shape at the moment, it still felt good. Gym now.

Oregano_State

Friday 1st August - Gym
Hamstrings were a bit sore and tight after the track session, which I could feel walking around during the day but loosened out over the run to the gym and the rest of my warm-up. Was feeling a bit low on energy for this session though, I don't think I'd eaten much for a few hours beforehand which might explain it.

A) Back Squat: 60kg 1x8, 70kg 1x5, 80kg 1x3, 90kg 1x3, 102.5kg 4x5
B1) E/Z Bar Curls: 35kg 2x15
B2) Upright Row: 35kg 2x10
B3) Overhead Press: 35kg 2x10
C) 4mins core: toe-touch, v-ups, flutter kicks, ended with 1min plank, no rest.
D) Ran home

Was planning on 5x5 on squats and 3 sets of the B exercises but I was really struggling for energy and motivation. One of those training sessions that you just grind out without enjoying any of it. Legs have been in bits since for some reason.

Saturday - Off (apart from a bit of a kickabout in the park)

Sunday 3rd August - Light Hills and Strides: 3x80m hills 2x strides
My legs were, and still are suffering after the squats on Friday, so I left off the hills on Sat and swapped it in for what would usually be a gym session on Sunday morning. I did a pretty slow and gradual warm-up, with a longer jog than I would usually do. The hills themselves were progressive, in that each was a little faster than the previous, although my legs didn't feel great for any of them. I was planning on doing three strides but my left leg started complaining on the second one so I called it a day after that. Plenty of foam rolling and stretching has been done over the past few days.

Oregano_State

Tuesday 5th August - Track: 200m, 180m, 160m, 140m, 120m, 100m
Legs were still feeling ropey on Monday so I skipped the morning gym session. I did some stretching and rolling during the day and headed to the park for another kickabout in the evening and was feeling much looser overall. Yesterday (Tuesday) evening was calm-ish and overcast as I cycled to the track. Felt pretty decent as I warmed up, although for the session itself I felt a bit awkward with my form, not as relaxed as I'd like to be. Not really sure why that was as I've been going well lately but I got through it fine anyway. I was aiming for a fast pace but not 100%.

The times went: 27.3, 23.5, 21.0, 18.9, and I didn't time the last two as turning the watch on affects my start and it's not worth it on the shorter reps. I was running at roughly bang on 54s pace for all of the timed reps which is ok I suppose. Rest was walk-around the track to the next starting point. Roughly 4mins.

Thursday will be more speed-oriented, and I'm hitting the gym this evening.

Edit: Forgot to add that as I was walking up to start my 160m rep I noticed a man and young woman walking across the track a few metres in front of me and the others I was training with. I think I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that Steve Cram's daughter trains on the track I've mainly been using over the summer. Sure enough, there he was walking off the track with his daughter after she'd finished her workout. Great to see such a legend of the sport still involved at grass-roots level.

Oregano_State

Wednesday 6th August - Gym
A) Cleans: did lots of sets, worked up to 65kg 2x3, technique focused, will have sore traps tomorrow.
Front Squat: 60kg 1x5, 70kg 1x5, 80kg 1x4
C) Back Squat: 80kg 1x5, 90kg 3x5
D) Pull Ups: BW+15kg 2x5
E) Neutral Grip Chins: BW+15kg 1x5, BW 1x5
F) Tricep Extensions 14kg DB 1x8, 12kg DB 2x8 each arm
G) Core: 2 x [Toe-Touch, V-ups, Russian Twists w/ 10kg med ball]

Enjoyable session, felt good to do some work on cleans, still getting the hang of them. Will look at getting weightlifting shoes in the near-ish future as I think they'll really help with squatting and the oly lifts. Having trouble getting into the correct positions as it is, despite lots and lots of flexibility work.

Oregano_State

Thursday 7th August - Track: 2x[20,30,40,50m] from blocks, 150m, 200m
Lordy, my traps were absolutely killing me yesterday, and are still really sore today after all the cleans on Wednesday. It had been a good few weeks since I last did them so I suppose it's to be expected.

Had another blocks session yesterday evening, the same structure as the last one, and it panned out much the same. I felt awkward for the early reps, and gradually got better as the session went on, with my last few feeling pretty ok.

Did a fast 150m and 200m at the end to keep the speed endurance ticking over, and left the track happy enough after a solid session. Didn't get the times, but they both felt pretty quick.

Heading to the gym this evening.

Oregano_State

Friday 8th August - Gym
Ran to gym. 15min stretching and rolling.

A) Deadlift: 60kg 1x5, 80kg 1x5, 100kg 1x3, 120kg 1x2, 140kg 1x1 PB 150kg 1x1 PB
B1) Speed Deadlift: 100kg 3x5
B2) Pull Ups: BW 3x10
C) Overhead Press: 20kg 1x10, 40kg 1x5, 50kg 2x4, 1x5, 20kg 1x30
D) Plyos: Standing broad jumps x 5, single leg hops 3x3 each leg
E) Core: 100 Russian Twists w/ 8kg med ball, 100 reverse crunches
F) Ran home

Great session. Happy with the deadlift improvements. Finally starting to head towards some decent-ish lifting numbers.

Oregano_State

Saturday 9th August - Hills: 8x100m
Jogged the 400m or so to the park, did a quick-ish warm-up, and got going. I did a rep every 2 minutes, on the minute, and was going at a fair clip. Only found the 7th and 8th difficult, I'm pretty happy with the shape I'm in at the moment.

I wish I was racing more, but it looks like I may not get the chance to again this season. I'm not too bothered really, as this year was more about getting back into decent shape and putting my hamstring issues behind me, and I've done that (touch wood). I'm in a really good position to get some solid training done for the rest of the year and head into the indoor season with confidence that I can start knocking chunks off my times.

Sunday 10th August - 30min easy
This is the first easy run I've done in ages, and I must say I miss them, and plan to do more. Was out for pints last night, and had a bit of a head on me today, but the run really blew away the cobwebs and I came home in a great mood. I did get a bit bored for a short while, but after about 10 minutes, the endorphins were flowing and I was loving it. Did a bit of exploring of the area I'm living in, roads I would normally not have any reason to go down, and saw some pretty great views of Leeds from angles I hadn't witnessed before. This was all done in a very pleasant drizzle that did a great job at keeping me cool and refreshed as I plonked along. Will aim to have an easy run at least once a week now.

Chivito550

Any races planned between now and end of UK season? Think it extends on longer there than in Ireland.

Oregano_State

Chivito550 wrote: »

Any races planned between now and end of UK season? Think it extends on longer there than in Ireland.

There are loads of races on but I'm limited in my choices. I'm not a member of a club here, so I'm restricted to racing in open events, which there are a number of, but I have to travel as none are in Leeds. The dates of these open events at the moment don't fit in well with deadlines I have for my masters, which is getting towards the business end now as I only have a few weeks left. I would like to race more, but I'm happy enough getting solid training done as I know myself I'm improving. I've knocked nearly a second off what I ran in my first race of 2013 off no winter training and a number of patchy periods since January. I know I'm in better shape now than I was when I raced a few weeks ago, and I'm confident I can go much better next season with a full winter behind me.